Assetto Corsa 1.2 AI improvements... or not.

EDIT: I've added a video showing some of the AI problems, look further down the post.
EDIT#2: I've added yet another video showcasing the AI issues of v1.2.1

Those of you hoping for a proper offline racing experience with the 1.2 update.. I'm sorry to have to disappoint you.

Only 30 minutes of testing various AI cars on various tracks (Imola, Spa, Monza) I was basically bombarded with AI problems, one after the other in quick succession.

-AI almost coming to a stop in T1, no matter how fast or slow the corner is. Even when everything is clear ahead the AI’s will hesitate getting on the gas on T1 exit. Slows up the pack and causes chaos.

-Extremely hesitant to make proper moves, yet still punting into you and other AI cars like drunkards.

-AI cars are swerving like they’re drunk on lap 1. Complete disregard of other cars, very bad spatial awareness.

-AI cars are putting wheels on the grass for no logical reason: plenty of space on each side.

-An AI will throw its whole car unto the grass for no reason: it's not trying to avoid a collision for example.

-AI cars are braking - for no reason - on the straights.

-AI cars are swerving without knowing you’re next to them; often resulting in race ending collisions.

-The “Gran Turismo AI maneuver”: An AI car will often hit the brakes and back completely out right when you’re alongside about to make a pass, just like the AI of Gran Turismo used to do.

-AI cars are often taking way too much speed into fast corners and then panic hitting the brakes in the middle of the corner.

-No defending down the straights – when they do defend it’s typically when you’re alongside the AI car and it’ll simply swerve right into your car.

-If one of the front runners spin and end up stationary on the track, the cars behind are often not able to drive around the stationary car; it seems they still lack the logic to drive around an object. They will just park in two long rows behind it and wait.

-AI doesn’t respond to yellow flags – I spun, ended on the track, then after about 5-10 seconds two AI cars drove straight into me at full speed. First of all they didn’t lift or brake, and secondly they weren’t able to drive around me instead of hitting me.

-AI exhibiting completely reckless behavior after losing control: an AI car at full speed clips another car in front, starts to lose control. Lifts, tries to countersteer, gets it somewhat under control on the tarmac runoff, until he then completely floors the throttle for no reason and power drifts straight into the path on the stampeding pack. Complete chaos and race ruined. This happened three times in a row after restarting the race.

-AI is horrible at controlling powerful turbo cars; fish tailing at the starts, looks very bad and quite dangerous for other drivers.

So all in all, regarding AI, 1.2 is a huge disappointment, along with the force feedback which is a big step backwards (but let's leave that for another discussion shall we).

Sorry...but you first mistake is expect an AI like an ''Human'' one, impossible, is that! artificial, and no matter the improve always go into errors, you know... the only way to feel a real cars around drive by humans is that SIMULATOR called iR

Sorry...but you first mistake is expect an AI like an ''Human'' one, impossible, is that! artificial, and no matter the improve always go into errors, you know... the only way to feel a real cars around drive by humans is that SIMULATOR called iR

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After racing against the rFactor 2 AI it is no longer a mistake to expect a certain degree of human behavior, actually.

I'm expecting the AI to have very high spatial awareness. I'm also expecting it to be able to maneuver around other AI cars, especially if they're slow or stationary. I'm also expecting it to not make maniacal moves with zero logic, like throwing a car unto the grass while driving in a straight line, or brake checking while going in a straight line.

I'm also expecting the AI to not cause major race ending accidents on the first lap of a race, even after restarting the race 3 or 4 times.

It is a fair expectation and the AI in pCars is also hard but fair and races quite well.

However in the latest online coding session with Stefano Cassillo he tells his frustration at discovering (only 2 days ago) some major problems with the AI and it is apparent he has quite some work to do on it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=noLpQgm5se8

His video series on youtube are a great insight into just how hard and time consuming such a task is, plus he, like everyone, has a family and life outside of coding/racing to consider and balance his time with.

yeah he was extremely bummed about the AI, im not surprised. hopefully its at least improved markedly in some respects & he just needs a breakthrough, which might be easier to come by now that the stress of releasing 1.2 is over. iirc he seemed very pleased with it before the past week or so, so maybe he's close.

The AI is much better than before. I can finally start to enjoy it! The author of the main post is a troller I know him very well from bsimracing! Hexagramme, stop trolling!!!!!!!!!! I know what you did in the past. You are AC hater and you have nothing to do except trolling everywhere!

The AI is much better than before. I can finally start to enjoy it! The author of the main post is a troller I know him very well from bsimracing! Hexagramme, stop trolling!!!!!!!!!! I know what you did in the past. You are AC hater and you have nothing to do except trolling everywhere!

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Very true! I know who is hexagramme.. But there's no need to attack! Just ignore his posts.

However in the latest online coding session with Stefano Cassillo he tells his frustration at discovering (only 2 days ago) some major problems with the AI and it is apparent he has quite some work to do on it. www.youtube.com/watch?v=noLpQgm5se8

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I think he says the fixes he was working on wouldn't be in the initial release of 1.2 because most don't race the AI at 100%. I'm guessing they will be in the hot fix.

Premium

Still a long way to go I feel after an hour testing the AI(Monza), an improvement yes, but an improvement over terrible......
And the points made in hexagramme's initial post are the exact things I found straight away, had to switch it off was too frustrating to race.
I'll stick to MP

AI is looking very good, very aware, never hit me and overtake very well.
If only 10% of public server mp driver were driving this well, online racing would gain traction. Instead we get maniacs who can hardly stay whitin the tracks for more than a lap. I will take artificial intelligence over no intelligence , thank you.

Premium

AI is looking very good, very aware, never hit me and overtake very well.
If only 10% of public server mp driver were driving this well, online racing would gain traction. Instead we get maniacs who can hardly stay whitin the tracks for more than a lap. I will take artificial intelligence over no intelligence , thank you.

The AI is remarkable to me after this patch and I was a huge critic of it beforehand. All I used AC for before was running laps around the Nordschliefe. I've run 10 races or so this morning and don't want to exit the game. I'm having such a good time with the AI where before it was just run off and leave them or join in on the conga line. I'm seeing battles for position and the AI not conceding like before. This is the most significant update for a game that I've ever seen.